SANFORD — Last week’s tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, sent shock waves across the country.

As the details unfolded, the nation learned that a 20-year-old gunman had killed 20 children — all first-graders — and six adults, including the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Law enforcement officials said the shooter ended the rampage by killing himself. Before going to the school, he shot and killed his mother at her home.

The Dec. 14 shooting is the second deadliest in U.S. history and is especially tragic because of the age and innocence of most of the victims.

In Sanford, parishioners of St. Thérèse of Lisieux gathered on Saturday, Dec. 15, in Central Park to pray the rosary for the shooting victims and their families. And, as in communities across the country, flags in town have been lowered to half-staff.

“The tragic event of last Friday has left all of us numb and filled with tears for the losses in Connecticut,” Sanford Superintendent of Schools David Theoharides began in the weekly newsletter he distributed on Sunday evening. “Our schools are supposed to be safe places, but now we may question that. Let me reassure you that our students’ safety has been, and will continue to be, a top priority in your Sanford Schools.”

Theoharides said during a phone interview this week that he doesn’t blame anyone for being worried about their children’s safety.

The shooting has school administrators across the country questioning the security of their schools and reviewing their emergency plans. In Maine, Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen has asked every school district in the state to review its emergency plans.

All school districts in Maine are required by law to have a comprehensive emergency management plan in place. The plan must be reviewed and approved annually by the district’s school board.

Theoharides said the Sanford School Department reviews and updates its crisis plan constantly “to ensure a safe and secure learning environment for our students and staff.”

In the years since the 1999 attack by two Columbine, Colorado, high school students on their classmates — in which 12 students and a teacher were killed and another 21 people were injured — cameras have been installed at the entrances of all Sanford’s schools. Schools also have electronic door locks which lock automatically after students arrive in the morning. Visitors to the schools must identify themselves before they are allowed into the building.

There are 24 surveillance cameras installed at Sanford Junior High School and 48 cameras installed at Sanford High School. The high school has 12 portable classroom units — none of which are connected directly to the main building — and students are coming and going between the school and the portables all day, so those entrances can’t be locked. The cameras are monitored by school principals and school resource officers during the day.

All schools have lockdown and crisis procedures that are reinforced with drills during the year. And there is a file in each classroom outlining protocol for crises, from severe weather and fires to possible threats from within or outside the school.

“You do what’s reasonable and prudent to deter [a crisis situation]. You practice [crisis procedures] and you just hope that what you do works if something happens,” Theoharides said, adding, “and you hope you never have to use it.”

He said the school department collaborates with Sanford Police and other public safety and health officials to maximize school safety and security. A two-way radio system was installed about three years ago as a back-up communication system connecting Sanford schools, the superintendent’s office and the police and fire departments. The Safe Schools/Healthy Students program funded the system.

“The well-being of our students is our top concern,” Theoharides said.

For that reason, school councilors were prepared to be available all this week for students or staff members who needed to talk about their feelings about last Friday’s tragedy.

“It is important to recognize that every individual will respond to news of this tragedy in different ways,” Theoharides advised in his newsletter. “I encourage you to observe how those around you may be reacting to news of this event and provide an opportunity for them to talk about their feelings.”

The newsletter — which is posted on the school department’s website at www.sanford.org — also includes three website addresses where teachers, parents and anyone who works with children can find information on talking to children about the shooting in Newtown or other tragic events.